What is PRACTICAL GENIUS?
Most people consider genius to be a gift bestowed on folks like Einstein or Mozart but not the rest of us. Contrary to this belief, PRACTICAL GENIUS is based on the underlying assumption that each of us possesses genius deep inside of us and it’s just waiting to be cultivated and set in motion. In my own life, I believe as a fully realized woman, authentic and entirely visible to the world, I am capable of exceptional accomplishments in my work, my community, and with my family and friends. That means I am the genius, not operating in the lofty, exclusive heights of science or culture, but right here, right now.
That’s what PRACTICAL GENIUS is all about: identifying and leveraging both the soft and hard unique personal assets each of us posses. Of course, it’s also about using those assets to open doors, attract opportunity, leverage personal power, and succeed beyond your wildest dreams.
So here’s how it works:
Step 1: First, you must Identify Your Genius. This means extracting and taking active responsibility for your unique strengths, passions, values, authenticity and creativity. Hint: the intersection of both these quantitative and qualitative characteristics is where your genius lies.
Step 2: Express Your Genius. The greatest challenge—which is rarely addressed in leadership models—is visibility. If you are not actively, purposefully sharing your unique genius narrative with the world, you’re compromising your personal and professional impact.
Step 3. Market Your Genius. Here’s where the game really changes. When you project and distribute your genius consistently, with clear purpose and passion, your personal and professional dynamic shifts into crazy growth mode.
Step 4. Surround Yourself With Genius. You are who you walk with. Raise the bar and build your network with others who are living purposeful, inspired lives. This step is about reaching out in a non-transactional way and cultivating meaningful, deeply valuable relationships. Raise your expectations, elevate your standards and surround yourself with those who are a positive reflection of your genius.
Don’t you want to know where your PRACTICAL GENIUS might take you?
What is personal branding?
Most business owners, entrepreneurs and senior executives spend years working, investing and contributing to the growth of corporate brands, either as consumers, investors or employees. Meanwhile, they completely miss out on the opportunity to create their own powerful personal brands. Maybe you’ve never even heard of personal branding.
Defined in simple terms, personal branding is about the art of attracting, packaging and taking ownership and control over the way the world sees you. Personal branding is about pulling your own strings. It’s about effectively mastering a few marketing and branding rules to ensure success and consistency with your “fabulosity” factor. Personal branding enables you to leverage your uniqueness to ensure you are rewarded, noticed and compensated for your unique talents.
Did you pause with anticipation when you read the world “packaging”? Were you hoping for advice on how to create a chic external package that wins you attention? It is part of your personal brand, but packaging alone won’t cut it.
The first step to powerful personal branding is to take control over your identity, your dreams and your aspiration as if it was all part of a brand strategy – because it is. Personal branding in many ways is about identity management. From here on out, I want you to view yourself as your own CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of the Brand Called "Me." Act as your own identity manager and foster the results you want when you want them.
You may think you are amazing, but are you letting the world know what is unique and special about you, your talents and your ideas? Or, are you waiting for someone to notice? Maybe you have an extraordinary skill set. Are you communicating those strengths? Or are you waiting for that miraculous moment when your boss actually acknowledges – and rewards – your uniqueness? The world’s top brands don’t wait to be noticed and you shouldn’t either.
You may be thinking, “Why do I need a personal brand? I’m not Angelina Jolie, Hillary Clinton or Jennifer Lopez.” Personal branding is not just for celebrities, but you can benefit from formalized personal branding strategies just the same in your own realm of influence. You just need to learn how. Is self-promotion self-serving? Yes, and that’s absolutely, 100 percent OK. The point is, who is going to promote you if you don’t? So stop waiting and start doing something to stand out among the rest of pack. There is no room for blending in or playing it safe in today’s world.
